GUNPOWDER PLOT AT MONTEVIDEO.

Westport Times, Volume 1, Issue 137, 8 January 1868, Page 3

GUNPOWDER PLOT AT MONTEVIDEO.

The following narrative of a plot, which has created a profound sensation in the Paver Plate, is drawn up ivqvr. official sources and the personal knowledge of the writer : On June 30, a German, named Wilhelm Hanstoffer, called upon M. Honore, the manager of the Foreign Club, in Montevideo, and informed him that he had been asked by a countryman, named Paul Neumayer, to assist him in driving a mine in connection with an engineering experiment, and offered 200 dols. (about £4O) for one night's work; adding that he wished to earn the money, but was afraid, from the mystery and caution of Neumayer in pledging him to secrecy, and yet not fully communicating the object of the work, that there was something wrong about the matter. The work was to be executed in a house in course of demolition for rebuilding, situate at the back of the Government House, commonly called The Fort. By M. Honore's advice, this communication was repeated to the political chief, Colonel Bustamente, who immediately took measures to ascertain what was going on. In consequence of the information he received, the chief ordered a sufficient force to be placed in the neighborhood of the fort, and, having Neumayer pointed out to him in the theatre, he remained there till the latter left, which he did at the time he was to meet Hanstoffer. Neumayer went direct to the place of appointment, followed by Colonel Bustamente, disguised with an old poncho and a straw hat. On the chief giving a signal preconcerted with th a police, Neumayer made an attempt at flight, but was immediately surrounded, captured, and taken to the Cabildo. The police then entered the house indicated by Hanstoffer, where, in a small cellar, newly constructed, they found two barrels of gunpowder, three sacks, and a Bumford's electric multiplier, in working order, and capable, according to Mr Oldham, of the Telegraph Office, of igniting gunpowder at a distance of six miles. These articles were taken to the head police office, and guards were placed at the house for the night. Neumayer refused to give any information, alleging that he had bought the house, and had the right to use it for any experiments he liked. Next morning the Government ordered an inspection of the house and cellar by the Director-General of Public Works, assisted by an eminent builder. These gentlemen reported that there existed sufficient proof of an intention to drive a mine in one direction, and that a hole had been broken through the wall of the cellar in another direction, probably for the same purpose. The " mine" had by this time become the topic of conversation ; and some English naval officers, who had heard an exaggerated version of the story, had their curiosity excited ; and Mr Havers, who for the last two years had been director of the scientific inspection of public works, offered to ascertain if there was any foundation for the alarming rumors in circulation. From a report subsequently drawn up by this gentleman, it appears that he examined the cellar, and, being made acquainted with the circumstances already narrated, came to the conclusion that there must be another operator, and that such person must be concealed in the drains. Eeturning through the fort, Mr Havers communicated his opinion to the Minister of War, who asked him to repeat his reasons for his belief to the Provisional Governor, General Mores. The result, was that General Flares requested Mr Havers to require from Colonel Bustmnento the necessary assistance, and to make a strict inves-

tigation. Q-uards were placed at the mouth of the main sewer, the streets were cleared, and all parts of the cellar were carefully inspected. The objects found proved that the operators were not ordinary laborers, and the hole in the wall was found to lead into the apparent drains of the house. Conceiving that the conspirators were either in this drain or in the main sewer, Mr Havers ordered a countermine to be sunk at the calculated junction of the two, and, going down himself, ascertained that no one was was in that section of the main sewer, so far as it could be seen with a dark lantern. He then entered the house drain, which could be done only by creeping, on account of its small dimensions ; and here he found a man who retreated through a hole in the wall into the cellar, followed by Mr Havers. The cellar being guarded, the man was at once captured, having been already sixteen hours in the drains. Further investigation followed, after which the openings were closed up, guards set, and the search suspended.

The prisoner, who was in his bhirfc sleeves and evidently much exhausted, gave the name of Louis Neumayer, but refused to make any statement until he learned that Paul Neumayer (no relation) was in custody, when he commenced a confession. Paul Neumayer also lost all his effrontery on learning that his co-laborer was in custody, and denounced as his principal employer Captain Don Eduardo Bertran, an officer who accompanied G-eneral Flores during the revolutions, indicating as accomplices several friends of Bertran, and declaring, by way of extenuation, that they only intended to destroy General Plores himself. An immediate search was made for Bertran, but he had already fled. His house, and the office at which he managed the commissariat business of the Brazilian Hospital, were searched, but nothing was found which threw any light on the conspiracy. A timber merchant in Montevideo stated that he met him early on the morning of the Ist inst. in the suburbs, and that he asked the deponent not to divulge having peen him. It was soon ascertained by means of the submarine telegraph that Bertran had gone to Buenos Ayres, and thence, under an assumed name, to Bosario, en route for Santa Fe. It also transpired that, although the house had been bought in Neumayer's name, Bertran was surety for the payment of the pur-chase-money. Independent, therefore, of the confessions of the prisoners, the strongest suspicion rests on Bertran. General Suarez, Commandantes Mancini and Begara, and Sonores Torres and Marquez were arrested in the course of the evening on the Ist inst., and placed in separate confinement.

On the 2nd Mr Havers resumed his investigation. The pavement was taken up, the main sewer opened, footsteps discovered in it, ascertained to be those of Louis Neumayer, and at 150 feet from the cellar an opening was found towards the windows of the suloon in which the Councils of State are held. From this hole a mine had been driven to within 6 feet of the wall of the saloon, and in it were found the tools used by the operator. It appears from the report made by Mr Havers to the Government that, in six or seven hours, with the aid of the other person expected to join in the work, the mine could .have been extended under the floor and charged for the explosion. It was also proved that the cellar tvas constructed expressly for the purpose of concealing these operations, and that the works carried on in the house were merely a blind to cover the proceedings of the conspirators. From inquiries made at the foreign Consulates, it appears that the prisoner, Paul Neumayer, was formerly a sub-lieutenant in the Wirtemberg army, was cashiered and handed over to the civil tribunals, convicted of forgery, and condemned to five years' penal servitude. He offered his services to both sides during the revolutions in various projects for mining and for making Orsini bombs and detonating compounds for the destruction of human life. Louis Neumayer is said to have been mate of a slaver. Nothing having transpired to show that the other persons arrested had any hand in the iniquitous project, they have been set at liberty. The extradition of Bertran was demanded of the Argentine Government and immediately conceded; but nothing further has been heard of him, and he is supposed to have fled into Chili.

General Flores has issued a manifesto, in which, whilst renewing his engagement to resign the dictatorship, with which he is temporarily invested, into the ban 's of the Legislature immediately after the.elect ions in November, he declares that will continue to pursue the course he has hitherto Ibl'owed, ; nd will never abuse the power intrusted to him.